| / the maine coon / cat & kitten care / about us / our cats / kittens / testimonials / FAQ / links / kiosk / contact / home / |
|
This web page is dedicated to the memory of our dear "Rajah" ... "I could have missed the pain but then I would have had to miss the dance." ~ Garth Brooks "The Dance" [Midi: The Dance, Garth Brooks]
and to the queen of Starswept Shelties "Tess"
ABOUT US
Welcome to Mariama, a closed, select cattery, located in a small town within The Greater City of Sudbury, a northern Ontario city which is the Nickel Mining Capital of the World. With a geographic area of 3,627 square kilometers, The City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest municipality in Ontario based on land mass. The City of Greater Sudbury, home to 330 lakes, is locally known as the City of Lakes and contains more lakes than any other municipality in Canada. Sudbury is about a 4.5 hour drive or a 45 minute flight North of Toronto. Now to tell you a little bit about my family. My husband and I are both professionals. I am a qualified school teacher by profession and my husband's specialty is Economic Development and Consulting. My husband operates his own Business/Property Management and Consulting Business. I manage the home office in the small town in which we live. This situation is ideal as it allows me to be at home full-time with the cats. Our three children are teenagers now. Our eldest daughter is a fourth year University Undergraduate Science Student planning on a career in the medical field. She is a Goju Ryu Karate First Degree Black Belt. She is also very computer savvy and offers Computer Technical Repair and Support Services in her spare time. Our other daughter is a first year Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program (B.Sc.N) student. She is a Goju Ryu Karate Brown Belt. She also enjoys reading, camping, and traveling. Both daughters also work part-time, in a Medical Walk-In Clinic and as Professional Lifeguards and Swimming Instructors (Lifesaving Society Certified) for our city pools . Our son is the youngest. He is currently in his first year of high school in a specialized Science and Technology Education Program (STEP). He is also an avid swimmer and has recently achieved the Life Saving Society Bronze Cross Award. He also enjoys computers in his spare time. Animals and nature are my passion and have always been an important part of my life since I was a child. It seems that most of us experience an insecurity with people at one time or another, yet animals are always unconditional. This is the very reason why many of us yearn for the ongoing unconditional love and friendship that often only an animal can provide. I have over 30 years of experience caring for a variety of animals. I have always enjoyed the challenge of breeding a top quality animal and improving a gene pool with each new successive generation. With this comes the satisfaction of creating a new and unique line of individuals to add to the gene pool as a whole. A gene pool for a serious breeder can be compared to a painter's pallet of paint or a sculpter's clay - with a lot of careful thought, planning and a little imagination, a breeder can create their own unique, yet ideal image of the perfect "specimen". I also take great pleasure in sharing my unique "creations" with others. I have successfully bred and exhibited Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties) as a hobby since 1998 under the kennel name Starswept. Our pedigrees can be found in several other respected kennels in both Canada and the US. We have always had cats as part of our household since we can remember. After our longhaired pet calico mixed breed cat Rajah passed away of old age, we started our search for a pure breed of cat whose character would fit in well with our existing household. Therefore, we wanted to be sure to select a breed of cat that was similar and compatible in temperament to our shelties (gentle, loving, highly intelligent and fun!). A Maine Coon was a very natural choice for us! Perhaps you may be wondering where the name "Mariama" originated from. "Mariama" is an African name meaning "A Gift From God." I couldn't have found a more appropriate name for a cattery that is home to such very special and treasured felines. Mariama Cattery is a labour of love for our family. I am dedicated to the protection, preservation and promotion of this wonderful breed of cat. Some interesting reading on the Cat's African Heritage can be found at the bottom of this page. For people who cannot have a dog we find the Maine Coon to have a lot of dog like (and sheltie like) characteristics. You can teach them to fetch a small ball or toy. When they want to play it is very common for them to initiate the playing by bringing you the toy they wish to play with. Their easy-going, gentle, friendly personalities are indeed closer to a dog's, making Maine Coons adapt easily to homes with children and multiple pets. All of these wonderful qualities made us instantly fall in love with the breed. Mariama offers healthy, well bred kittens in a variety of colours, striving to produce top quality, typey kittens with excellent health, wonderful temperaments, and longevity. To accomplish this goal we carefully select quality breeding stock with exceptional type, beautiful expression, soundness in structure and temperament. We have incorporated healthy breeding stock from various bloodlines and pedigrees with Champion to Supreme Grand Champions, Regional Winner, Imported, and Outcrossed Show Lines as well as New Foundation Bloodlines. This allows us to maintain an excellent quality, genetically diverse gene pool which is essential for health and longevity. To guide us in this endeavour, we follow the Maine Coon Breed Standard set out by the major purebred cat registering bodies. Mariama Cattery is triple Registered and our Pedigrees are triple Certified by TICA, CFA and CCA to ensure authenticity. Our breeding stock has been selected from healthy bloodlines and parentage that are Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), Hip Dysplasia (HD), PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease), and SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) negative. To date we have not had any cases of HCM, HD, PKD, or SMA in our cattery. Our Cattery is FeLV, FIV, Ringworm and Parasite negative. Kittens are individually handled daily from birth and are raised in a clean, bright, lively family environment with Shetland Sheepdogs, an English Angora rabbit, and a Belgium Waterslager song canary. This ensures maximum socialization from the very beginning which is so important for healthy psychological and emotional development. Also, kittens will eventually be travelling into varying circumstances so we attempt to expose them to as many new sounds, smells and environments as possible so that the transition from our home to yours is an easy one. We believe that the key to health and vitality is a high quality, nutritious diet. Therefore we feed our cats/kittens premium all natural foods. We offer written health guarantees (hereditary and congentital defects) and lifetime support. Our kittens have been placed in select homes across Canada. Many of our buyers come back for seconds and thirds which is a wonderful compliment to our breeding program :-). Please feel free to e-mail us with any questions or comments you may have. Inquiries are always welcome. We hope you will enjoy your virtual visit and will come back soon! Sincerely, Maria (Mary)
An animal friend is like no other ... This song says it all. Ben
Ben, the two of us need look no
more Written by Don Black and Walter Scharf Performed by Michael Jackson
The Cat's African Heritage AFRICA has cats. We all know that. The problem is that most of the cats of Africa can rip you to shreds without so much as an "if-you-please." Sure, Egypt and their adored cats were in Africa, but that culture was radically different from those of the remarkably diverse peoples inhabiting the rest of this vast continent. Big and dangerous cats were everywhere, and I would think that dealing with them would be precarious at best. For instance, imagine how scratched up you can get when performing the marginally difficult task of giving your cat a bath. Now imagine if that cat weighed about 400 pounds like the African Lion. And lions aren't the only big African cats; don't forget cheetahs and leopards. Fortunately, these magnificent creatures usually won't harm humans unless they are starving or terrified. The indigenous people of Africa have nothing but the respect for these big-cats (and indeed all animals) and their ancient myths and legends are filled with the exploits of these creatures. But there was one African cat that wasn't so big. To the Africans it was just another cat, albeit, a smaller one. We've given it the scientific name Felis Libyca or simply the African wildcat. Around 4497 years ago (c.3000 B.C. ) this wildcat made its way through Ethiopia and up into Egypt. These are believed to be the very cats that the Egyptians domesticated. While we're on the subject, the cat we all know and love today is descended from the pairing of the African wildcat Felis Libyca and the European wildcat Felis Silvestris, (do you suppose this where the cartoon Sylvester got his name?) And just in case you are burning with curiosity, that adorable pussycat all snuggled nicely in your lap is designated Felis Catus. So next time you happen to be studying the behavior of your cat, remember its rich African heritage.
© Mariama Maine Coon Cats ® SUDBURY, ONTARIO, CANADA Contact Us
|
